Do you ever have one of those weeks where it just seems like everything is happening at once? On top of my normal work schedule, Bike to Work Week is upon us and I am involved with the effort here in Greenville. Also, I have a couple of additional volunteer obligations that happened to hit this week. I have commitments every day this week after work and meetings during my lunch hour for the next two days, so posting here at Bicycle Design will be light throughout the week. Yeah, I am feeling a little overwhelmed, but I am not complaining. I consider myself very lucky to be able to work on the things that I care about and to give in a small way to causes that I think matter.

On the subject of giving, I want to mention the fund that was set up for Elden Nelson’s wife Susan, who has been battling cancer for years now. If you read Elden’s blog, Fat Cyclist, you know that Susan’s condition has recently taken a turn for the worse. Elden’s friend Kenny set up a Paypal fund to help out the family (click the link at the top of the sidebar to donate). I have never met Elden, but I have been reading his blog for a long time, so I made a small donation last week after reading a particularly moving post. Small amounts can help; if a lot of readers contribute 15 or 20 bucks, it can make a difference to the family during this very tough time. I encourage all of you to read a few of the latest posts at Fat Cyclist and help out if you can. You can also help by buying a Fat Cyclist jersey. The new designs from Twin Six look great, so take a look.

Sorry for venturing off topic, but I think this is a subject that warrants it. Hopefully, I will be able to post something design related later in the week, but it may be early next week before I get the chance. In the mean time, go to Fat Cyclist and contribute if you can. Also, don’t forget to ride your bike to work at least one day this week.

…what a shame…it’s particularly galling considering the bulk of this post involves one of the most touching stories on the cycling internet…

…is there any recourse to getting rid of these posts & posters forever ???…

…i was about to e-mail both companies (probably related despite very separate addresses)& lay some bikesgonewild vitriol on them but i don’t know what the best method of dealing w/ these things would be…i didn’t want to escalate things……any advice ???…

Morons indeed bikesgonewild. I deleted the comments from the two spammers, but what a nuisance. I have been getting more spam comments like those lately. The word verification keeps bots from leaving spam, but that doesn’t stop it all. I hope that I am not going to have to start moderating comments before they appear on the site.

Hi. I work for the Environmental Protection Agency on our blog, and I found your blog because we’re promoting bike commuting as part of Bike to Work Week.

Before I get to my point, I want to thank you for asking people to help out your friend. I’m a member of an online photographic community, and I’ve done similar things there, helping out friends we’ve never met in person.

We do a question of the week in our blog, and this week we’re asking people to share why they do or don’t bike to work.

…ah, good work, james…my only other thought was to find a way of publicly inviting them to donate 5g’s apiece to susan & eldon’s fund & then ridiculing them for not contributing to an extremely worthwhile cause…

…post script…lost in all this clamor initially is the awesome contribution ultrarob is working on & susan & eldon’s cause is something near & dear to the hearts of so many of us who’ve never actually met those folks…